enlifelistedLife Listedhttps://www.lifelisted.com
Better Bucket Lists, Better Life StoriesSat, 01 Aug 2015 05:00:20 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3A New Monthly Life List (August 2015): Fun, Free and in Your Neighborhoodhttps://www.lifelisted.com/blog/a-new-monthly-life-list-august-2015-fun-free-and-in-your-neighborhood/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=FeedPress&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifelisted+%28Life+Listed%29
https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/a-new-monthly-life-list-august-2015-fun-free-and-in-your-neighborhood/#commentsSat, 01 Aug 2015 05:00:20 +0000https://www.lifelisted.com/?p=4006It is monthly life list time again! This month you will find a whole new assortment of local, free and helpful activities that you can start doing today in order to add more adventure to your life and to start making progress on your Life List. This month, challenge yourself to do one more item […]

It is monthly life list time again! This month you will find a whole new assortment of local, free and helpful activities that you can start doing today in order to add more adventure to your life and to start making progress on your Life List. This month, challenge yourself to do one more item than you did on the last list. It is a great way to build momentum!

But This Is My First Time Seeing One of These?!

If this is your first time seeing one of these monthly lists, now is your chance to try out the Life List lifestyle without having to fully commit yourself. Find a friend, set aside some time and use this mission as an excuse to go adventuring! If you get a good story out of completing any of these items, come back to this post and share your experience with the community. We want to hear from you!

Monthly Life List: August 2015

The following is a life list that is meant to be fun, free and something that you can do locally. The only guideline is you should aim to finish as many items as possible by the deadline (see below!).

Meditate for 10 minutes

Write a poem about a stranger

Contribute to a wikipedia article

Take on a project as a DIY with a friend

Google yourself

Clean a closet or drawer

Write a comic

Go swimming

Jog a mile

Avoid and guard against gossip

Look for an old friend on Facebook

The Deadline

No Life List would be complete without a deadline. This monthly Life List’s deadline is:

August 31st 2015

How Did You Do On The Last List?

Do you have any stories, suggestions or photos from working on the last monthly Life List? Share them in the comments below! The whole group wants to hear from you!

]]>https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/a-new-monthly-life-list-august-2015-fun-free-and-in-your-neighborhood/feed/0IMG_6683-post-imageA New Monthly Life List (July 2015): Fun, Free and in Your Neighborhoodhttps://www.lifelisted.com/blog/a-new-monthly-life-list-july-2015-fun-free-and-in-your-neighborhood/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=FeedPress&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifelisted+%28Life+Listed%29
https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/a-new-monthly-life-list-july-2015-fun-free-and-in-your-neighborhood/#commentsWed, 01 Jul 2015 05:00:59 +0000https://www.lifelisted.com/?p=4001It is monthly life list time again! This month you will find a whole new assortment of local, free and helpful activities that you can start doing today in order to add more adventure to your life and to start making progress on your Life List. This month, challenge yourself to do one more item […]

It is monthly life list time again! This month you will find a whole new assortment of local, free and helpful activities that you can start doing today in order to add more adventure to your life and to start making progress on your Life List. This month, challenge yourself to do one more item than you did on the last list. It is a great way to build momentum!

But This Is My First Time Seeing One of These?!

If this is your first time seeing one of these monthly lists, now is your chance to try out the Life List lifestyle without having to fully commit yourself. Find a friend, set aside some time and use this mission as an excuse to go adventuring! If you get a good story out of completing any of these items, come back to this post and share your experience with the community. We want to hear from you!

Monthly Life List: July 2015

The following is a life list that is meant to be fun, free and something that you can do locally. The only guideline is you should aim to finish as many items as possible by the deadline (see below!).

Sleep outside

Read a religious text

Fast for a day

Go Geocaching

Jump in a fountain

Eat something nasty

Meet someone else with your name

Dance like a fool

Start leaving your shoes at your front door

Make water your drink of choice

The Deadline

No Life List would be complete without a deadline. This monthly Life List’s deadline is:

July 31st 2015

How Did You Do On The Last List?

Do you have any stories, suggestions or photos from working on the last monthly Life List? Share them in the comments below! The whole group wants to hear from you!

]]>https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/a-new-monthly-life-list-july-2015-fun-free-and-in-your-neighborhood/feed/0IMG_6748_post-imageThe Best Mental Exercisehttps://www.lifelisted.com/blog/the-most-important-mental-exercise/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=FeedPress&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifelisted+%28Life+Listed%29
https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/the-most-important-mental-exercise/#commentsTue, 16 Jun 2015 03:52:38 +0000https://www.lifelisted.com/?p=3993After years of experimenting with different life hacks and lifestyle design strategies I have finally identified the best mental exercise. Change is the only constant in the human condition. Not only do our bodies continually change and get replaced cell by cell but our minds constantly take in new information and update our perspective on […]

After years of experimenting with different life hacks and lifestyle design strategies I have finally identified the best mental exercise.

Change is the only constant in the human condition. Not only do our bodies continually change and get replaced cell by cell but our minds constantly take in new information and update our perspective on the world. This is a healthy process and the engine for growth. As the world changes around us it is vitally important for us to process this change and adapt to the new conditions.

Unfortunately, there is at least one important mental device that retracts from our abilities to adapt, we call these assumptions. Since we have limits on how effectively we can objectively reevaluate every situation that arises at any given moment, we must rely on assumptions in order to simplify an infinitely complex world. If we have seen the same behavior 1,000 times before, it can save us energy to just assume it will happen the same way again.

Human’s take this idea further. Rather than reevaluate every complex moral issue that comes up, we do an analysis, pick a side and use that as our basis for assumptions in future situations. (This can be something simple like believing olives are gross or something complex like thinking all Malaysia Airlines flights are dangerous.) Assumptions can be genuinely useful in the short-term but they are limiting in the long-term.

Is This Really A Bad Thing?

The assumptions we make about life and the way the world works eventually become our worldview. This worldview then affects how we live and exist in the world. It is the lens that we make every decision through. The sum of our small assumptions become the basis for our lives.

It is these assumption driven worldviews that cause humanities greatest conflicts. Racism, xenophobia and the constant struggles in the Middle East are all perpetuated by people who are failing to recalibrate their assumptions. Just because one human was bad doesn’t mean every person that sharing their traits is equally bad. The world continues to change but many people’s assumptions do not.

To combat this mental trap, I rely on the following mental exercise.

The single most fulfilling intellectual exercise that I do is actively recalibrate my long held assumptions. I take a solid belief of mine and actively review it to see if it still holds true for me.

I change with the passage of time and it takes active work to change my assumptions and my resulting worldview. This exercise has resulted in me reversing my belief in free will (I don’t believe in it anymore), strengthening my beliefs on guns (Due to living logistics, I don’t have a gun myself but I believe almost everyone should have access to one) and last week, I drastically changed my views on the morals of eating animals (my new point of view will likely surprise you, stay tuned for my next blog post).

How To Actively Recalibrate Your Assumptions:

1. Make a list of three things you strongly believe or assume. (This doesn’t necessarily have to be your strongest beliefs.)

2. Pick one of those beliefs and identify the counter extreme. (What would the two opposing sides believe?)

3. Define actions you can take towards experiencing and reevaluating the opposing sides of your assumption. (You don’t necessarily need to go to the full extreme.)

4. Perform some of the actions in the last step in order to actively reevaluate your assumption.

A Real Example

1. My 3 strong assumptions are:

1a. Anyone can choose and take action to improve their life.
1b. Bucket lists need to have deadlines.
1c. I hate seafood.

2. The counter extremes of “anyone can choose and take action to improve their life” are:

2a. Anybody can choose to take action to improve their life.
2b. Nobody can choose to take action to actually improve their life.

3. The following are actions I can take toward testing these viewpoints:

3a. Search the web for examples of people who were unable to improve their lives through their actions.
3b. Talk to older family members about how their lives may or may not have changed. Identify if their lives improved.
3c. Research philosophical views on free will and self improvement.
3d. Take an action to try to improve my life.
3e. Research historical success of well known self improvement techniques.

4. In order to recalibrate this assumption, I actually did B, C and D from above. You can read the results these had on my long held assumptions here.

Example Assumptions To Recalibrate:

The way you do or do not vote

The people you spend time with

The people you don’t spend time with

The way you treat animals

The products you buy

The institutes you support

The services you use

The way you evaluate your time

The food you eat

The food you don’t eat

The job you work

The way you budget your money

The way you budget your time

The way you feel about weapons

The way you feel about specific foreign countries

The way you interact with nature

Your philosophy on the origins of the universe

Your philosophy on relationships

Your philosophy on others

Why Is This The Best Mental Exercise?

While there are many important mental exercises, this is the best mental exercise for two reasons:

This exercise can have an unmatched impact on how you view the world. By recalibrating your assumptions and your resulting framework of the world, you impact an uncountable amount of smaller decisions in your everyday life. Something simple like realizing that work doesn’t need to be painful can vastly change how you live your life. Even something small like realizing you like certain kinds of seafood can vastly change how you eat and the resulting composition of your body.

This exercise directly combats the internal problems that are causing some of humanities biggest conflicts. Many of the world’s most senseless acts of violence have been caused by people who applied their untested assumptions to other people’s wellbeing. Strong assumptions lead to strong beliefs which lead to strong actions. This exercise makes sure that those beliefs are warranted.

What strong assumptions have you actively overturned in your life? What other assumptions should all of us consider recalibrating?

]]>
https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/the-most-important-mental-exercise/feed/1most-important-mental-exercise_post_imageA New Monthly Life List (June 2015): Fun, Free and in Your Neighborhoodhttps://www.lifelisted.com/blog/a-new-monthly-life-list-june-2015-fun-free-and-in-your-neighborhood/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=FeedPress&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifelisted+%28Life+Listed%29
https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/a-new-monthly-life-list-june-2015-fun-free-and-in-your-neighborhood/#commentsMon, 01 Jun 2015 05:00:19 +0000http://www.lifelisted.com/?p=3980It is monthly life list time again! This month you will find a whole new assortment of local, free and helpful activities that you can start doing today in order to add more adventure to your life and to start making progress on your Life List. This month, challenge yourself to do one more item […]

It is monthly life list time again! This month you will find a whole new assortment of local, free and helpful activities that you can start doing today in order to add more adventure to your life and to start making progress on your Life List. This month, challenge yourself to do one more item than you did on the last list. It is a great way to build momentum!

But This Is My First Time Seeing One of These?!

If this is your first time seeing one of these monthly lists, now is your chance to try out the Life List lifestyle without having to fully commit yourself. Find a friend, set aside some time and use this mission as an excuse to go adventuring! If you get a good story out of completing any of these items, come back to this post and share your experience with the community. We want to hear from you!

Monthly Life List: June 2015

The following is a life list that is meant to be fun, free and something that you can do locally. The only guideline is you should aim to finish as many items as possible by the deadline (see below!).

Have a coffee/tea with someone you haven’t seen in over a year

Put and keep your cell phone out of sight in conversation

Buy a lottery ticket and give them out to people on the street, wishing them good luck

Listen to a podcast

Code a simple computer program

Clean a closet

Go for a 5k hike

People watch

Read one of your childhood favorite books to a child

Make a new friend

The Deadline

No Life List would be complete without a deadline. This monthly Life List’s deadline is:

June 30th 2015

How Did You Do On The Last List?

Do you have any stories, suggestions or photos from working on the last monthly Life List? Share them in the comments below! The whole group wants to hear from you!

]]>https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/a-new-monthly-life-list-june-2015-fun-free-and-in-your-neighborhood/feed/2june-2015-month-life-list-post_image483 Hand-Picked Bucket List Ideas For You To Stealhttps://www.lifelisted.com/blog/483-bucket-list-ideas-for-you-to-steal/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=FeedPress&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifelisted+%28Life+Listed%29
https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/483-bucket-list-ideas-for-you-to-steal/#commentsThu, 21 May 2015 06:13:00 +0000http://www.lifelisted.com/?p=3973The following is a hand-picked list of the greatest and most interesting bucket list ideas from around the web. I have read hundreds of people’s bucket lists over the last five years and the list below includes all of the ones that jumped off the page for me. (I am kind of obsessed with lists […]

The following is a hand-picked list of the greatest and most interesting bucket list ideas from around the web. I have read hundreds of people’s bucket lists over the last five years and the list below includes all of the ones that jumped off the page for me. (I am kind of obsessed with lists so I keep spreadsheets of these kinds of things :-p)

They range from funny like ‘tickle a fish’ to epic like ‘drive a tank’ to just genuinely interesting like ‘live a day without one of your five senses’.

Feel free to steal these items and use them for inspiration for your own bucket list. I have organized them into basic categories to make scouring them easier. Enjoy!

Bucket List Idea Categories:

Bucket List Ideas Related To Attending Events

Attend the Dead Guy festival in Nederland Colorado
See the Pope speak at Vatican City
Attend the finale of Eurovision
Attend a UFC Fight
Attend a sumo match in Japan
Attend the Surges motorcycle party
Attend a ballet
Spend a week at the Louvre (from the movie The Bucket List)
Have dinner at La Cherie d’Or (from the movie The Bucket List)
Attend an opera
Attend the Kentucky Derby
Celebrate New Years in Time Square
Crash a wedding
Attend the inauguration of a US President in Washington DC
Attend the Hot Air Balloon Races in Albuquerque
See a broadway show
Witness the monarch butterfly migration
Attend the Calgary Stampede
Attend Coachella Music Festival (Coachella Valley, California)
Attend the Street Parade in Zurich
Attend the Love Parade in Berlin
Attend a taping of SNL
Attend a movie premiere
Attend the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
Attend Sleep No More in New York (an interactive play)
Attend a Blue Man Group Show
Attend Hershey’s Chocolate World
Attend the Midnight Screening of a Blockbuster Movie on Opening Day
Stay at the Icehotel in Sweden
Attend the Monaco Grand Prix
Spend Christmas in Leavenworth, Washington
Attend a Cirque du Soleil show
Fly a Kite at the Cervia International Kite Festival
Experience A Symphony of Lights on the Star Ferry
Play in the Mud at the Boryeong Mud Festival
Attend the World Expo
Attend the Naadam Festival in Mongolia
Attend Purna Kumbh Mela
Attend Hogmanay in Scotland
Participate in the Color Festival in Utah
Attend the Glastonbury Festival
Attend Comiccon
Go to a party at the playboy mansion (The Buried Life)
Go to a rock concert in all leather (The Buried Life)
Attend a Roller Derby
See the Dali Lama speak
Visit Japan during the Cherry blossom festival
Attend Bonnaroo
Attend EDC
Attend Electric Daisy Carnival electronica festival in Vegas
Attend Donauinselfest (biggest music festival in the world 3mil+)
Attend the Mummers Parade in philidalphia
Particpate in Loy Krathong
Particpate in Songkran
Attend Glamis dune racing
Attend a Japanese tea ceremony
Go to a Gatsby-themed party
Sit in the audience of a tv show
Attend Yacht Week in Croatia

Bucket List Ideas Related To Doing Activities

Catch a fish with your bare hands
Sleep in a capsule hotel in Japan
Visit a Death Row Inmate
Climb Mt Kilimanjaro
Run a 5:30 min mile
Circumnavigate the globe
Worship in a Buddhist Temple
Build a house with Habitat for Humanity
Live a day without each of your senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste)
Do a Triatholon
Grow a garden
Go hard core zip lining
Witness something truly majestic (from the movie The Bucket List)
Help a complete stranger for a common good (from the movie The Bucket List)
Laugh until you cry (from the movie The Bucket List)
Drive a Shelby Mustang (from the movie The Bucket List)
Kiss the most beautiful guy or girl in the world (from the movie The Bucket List)
Get back in touch (previously “Hunt the big cat”) (from the movie The Bucket List)
Meet an American president
Score a hole in one
Be an extra in a flim
Leave your mark in graffiti
Be on the cover of a magazine
Walk on a nude beach naked
Flip a house
Be a game show contestant
Go hitch hiking
Complete a ironman
Voluntarily live homeless
Go whale watching
Ride an elephant
Go ice climbing up a frozen waterfall
Drive a John Deere tracker
Go in a blimp
Go in a Blue Angel jet
Go 24 hours without speaking
Swim with sharks
Sleep on a beach
See Michelangelo’s David
Touch an iceberg
Eat chocolate in Belgium
Throw or catch a fish in Seattle pike market
Fly at the speed of sound
Go to a big boxing match
Ride on a bicycle built for 2 (or even 3)
Take an overnight train ride
Catch a billfish
Give 100 dollars to a stranger
Solve a rubiks cube
Swim in each ocean (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, Artic)
Cage dive with sharks
Do a five day fast
Swim with whales
Fly on a private jet
Join the mile high club
Ride on the top of a moving train
Become a citizen of another country and get a 2nd passport
Go indoor sky diving
Get arrested for a cause you believe in
Eat a pizza in Naples, Italy
Drive through a tollbooth and pay for myself and the car behind you
Kiss the blarney stone
Swim with stingrays
Explore a ghost town
Give a lecture at a major university
Cross the road at abbey road
Drive a tank
Go surfing
Go tobogganing
Hold a tarantula
Collect honey from a beehive
Watch the sun set and rise in the same day
Chop a tree down with axe
Hang from Toronto’s CN Tower
Skydive over Mt. Everest
Finish a jigsaw puzzle
Vacation in an igloo
Cross a country on a bicycle
Climb Pacaya
Watch the sunset from Oia, Santorini, Greece
Stargaze at the Atacama Desert in Chile
Get through the Longleat Hedge Maze
Take a week-long technology hiatus
Write your Last will and testament
Milk a cow
Chase a tornado
Work for tips
Drink a Piña Colada in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Fast for three days
Attend a murder mystery dinner
Eat at an undersea restaurant
Thrown down a large amount of money on roulette
Go Couchsurfing
Leave a hefty tip for excellent service
Ride a cable car in San Francisco
Participate in geocaching
Watch a movie at a drive-in movie theater
Buy a round of drinks for a whole bar
Travel on the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway
Participate in a polar bear plunge
File your own taxes
Travel through the Channel Tunnel
See a lunar eclipse
Build a bonfire and make s’mores
Go wakeboarding
Sleep in a hammock
Go water jetpacking
Take a bite into the hottest chilli in the world
Drive a tank
Drive a speed boat
Eat chocolates in Belgium
Write an article published in the newspaper
Be the best man in a wedding
Get stitches
Experience being broke
Kiss a total stranger
High five a monk
Break the sound barrier
Party in a fountain
Rush the field after a football game
Order something off the In-N-Out Burger secret menu
Swim with penguins
Chew coca leaves in Columbia
Catch fireflies in a jar
Sleep in a yurt
Meet Richard Branson
Grow an uban vegie patch
Be a nude model for a life drawing class
Wake up on a beach
Get my palm read
Fly in a corporate jet
Land on water in a plane
Go to a nudist colony
Be on a game show
Actively boycott companies who you dislike or distrust
Free dive over 15m in the sea
Buy & run a pub
Catch, kill and prepare a fish
Meet someone in-person with your own name
Be friends with your ex
Get barred from a bar
Sail a boat
Sleep in a tree
Take a road trip in an RV
Go to an indoor trampoline park
Order the most expensive thing on the menu
Write a letter to your hero
Try and dig your own massive hole
Write a page on Wikipedia
Donate Blood
Surf a sand dune
Eat sushi in Tokyo
Take care of a plant for 6 months
Shoot 10 different weapons
See a dinosaur fossil
Abstain from alcohol for 100 consecutive days
Avoid all McDonalds for six months
Watch no television for six months
Help deliver a baby (The Buried Life)
Go on a date with a celebrity (The Buried Life)
Give a toast at a strangers wedding (The Buried Life)
Open the news (The Buried Life)
Lead a parade (The Buried Life)
Go down a mountain on a longboard (The Buried Life)
Plant a tree (The Buried Life)
Ride a bull (The Buried Life)
Kick a field goal (The Buried Life)
Help someone build a house (The Buried Life)
Get on the cover of Rolling Stone (The Buried Life)
Tell a joke on late night television (The Buried Life)
Get a song you have written on the radio (The Buried Life)
Approach the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen and kiss her (The Buried Life)
Solve a crime or capture a fugitive (The Buried Life)
Tell a judge “you want the truth? you can’t handle the truth” (The Buried Life)
Give a stranger a $100 bill (The Buried Life)
Send a message in a bottle (The Buried Life)
Make a big donation to charity (The Buried Life)
Cut a ribbon at a major opening (The Buried Life)
Get something named after you (The Buried Life)
Pay for someone groceries (The Buried Life)
Sing the national anthem to a packed stadium (The Buried Life)
Throw the first pitch at a MLB game (The Buried Life)
Win and yell bingo at a bingo hall (The Buried Life)
Kiss the stanley cup (The Buried Life)
Stand under a plane while it lands (The Buried Life)
Make it on the front page of the newspaper (The Buried Life)
Host a cooking show (The Buried Life)
Catch something and eat it (The Buried Life)
Sleep in a haunted house (The Buried Life)
Do a sketch with WIll Farrell (The Buried Life)
Take a stranger out for dinner (The Buried Life)
Make a television show (The Buried Life)
Write an article for a major publication (The Buried Life)
Spend a week in silence (The Buried Life)
See a dead body (The Buried Life)
Design a shoe (The Buried Life)
Smash a guitar on stage (The Buried Life)
Compete in a soap-box derby (The Buried Life)
Take a kid on a toy shopping spree (The Buried Life)
Meet the Lonely Island dudes (The Buried Life)
Street perform and make $100 (The Buried Life)
Teach an elementary class (The Buried Life)
Escape from a deserted island (The Buried Life)
Ride through the desert in a dune buggy (The Buried Life)
Party with a rockstar (The Buried Life)
Play ball with Obama (The Buried Life)
Race horses (The Buried Life)
Host SNL (The Buried Life)
Mash grapes with your feet at a winery
Give a graduation speech
Walk away from an explosion in slow motion
Have theme music follow me for a day
Say yes to everything for a whole day
Travel on a cargo ship
Eat dog
Eat an eyeball
Create a short film
Climb the mast of a tall ship
Enter a film contest
Devise the perfect crime but never perform it
Cross a country on a bicycle
Photograph an endangered species
Take a homeless person out to eat
Follow a river from it’s mouth to its source, or visa versa
Take a photo every day for a year
Get airborne in a car
Shoot a flaming bow and arrow
Train hop
Front row tickets to a concert
Quit something every Thursday for a year
Moon someone out of a moving vehicle
Do a wall flip
Design a new product with a 3D printer
Tickle a fish
Put a fly on a leash
Walk around a crowded area in a Where’s Waldo costume
Party for Songkran in Chang Mai
See a Polar Bear
Ride across the entire length of the Russian – Trans-siberian railroad
Place gum on the Seattle gum wall
Walk barefoot with paint
Sell a song on iTunes
Cut off all hair
Kayak over a waterfall

Bucket List Ideas Related To Learning

Learn to tie a cherry stem with only your tongue
Take a basic mechanic class
Take a boxing class
Learn some form of karate
Read the entire Bible, Torah and Koran
Take a dance classe
Take a surfing class
Take a glass blowing class
Make fire without matches or a lighter
Eat fire
Learn to paint
Make your own ice cream
Live abroad for at least 1 year
Take a pottery class
Try pilates
Brew your own Beer
Learn to juggle
Learn CPR
Learn to paint
Learn how to write a computer algorithm
Learn how to roll r’s
Learn more about your ancestors
Learn a magic trick
Learn how to skim stones across water
Better your penmanship and write by hand more
Complete the seven day primitive living course of the Boulder outdoor survival school training

Woo! That is the whole list but I bet there are some things missing.

What bucket list items have you completed that you would like added to this list?

]]>https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/483-bucket-list-ideas-for-you-to-steal/feed/7bucket-list-ideas_post-imageWhat’s The Most Valuable Skill That Can Be Learned In 30 Minutes Or Less?https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/whats-the-most-valuable-skill-that-can-be-learned-in-30-minutes-or-less/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=FeedPress&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifelisted+%28Life+Listed%29
https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/whats-the-most-valuable-skill-that-can-be-learned-in-30-minutes-or-less/#commentsTue, 19 May 2015 04:37:50 +0000http://www.lifelisted.com/?p=3966Not all important life skills require a lifetime of learning! What valuable skills have you learned in 30 minutes or less that have improved your life? I’ll go first! To start the list off, I’ll share my top 3 favorites: Learn To Recognize and Respond To Other People’s Body Language This might be the single […]

Not all important life skills require a lifetime of learning! What valuable skills have you learned in 30 minutes or less that have improved your life? I’ll go first!

To start the list off, I’ll share my top 3 favorites:

Learn To Recognize and Respond To Other People’s Body Language

This might be the single most valuable skill I have ever learned. It is absolutely incredible how much humans communicate without words. Learning to recognize and react to this has helped me with dating, financial negotiations, hiring, firing and public speaking. The basics are easy to understand (you already understand them subconsciously) and can be used to your advantage quickly. By far, the best book on the topic is: What Every BODY is Saying (Joe Navarro & Marvin Karlins). You don’t need to read the whole book to see the benefits, your “Aha Moments” will start in the first several chapters.

Learn To Stop Talking and Listen

This is the most valuable skill that I wish others would learn. I am yet to meet another person who couldn’t do a better job of this (myself included!). Counterintuitively, talking is easy, listening is hard. Some of my biggest breakthroughs in life have come when I have wised up and stopped talking long enough to listen and learn something.

Open A Beer With an Edge

This one sounds stupid but might actually be the most practical one of the group :-p I have lost count how many times I have used a countertop or lighter to open a beer. It is a small thing but makes a big difference when used at the right moment. Life Hacker has a guide here.

Obviously, That Is Not All! (See The Comments)

What valuable skills have you learned in 30 minutes or less that have improved your life? Vote and add your suggestions in the comments.

]]>https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/whats-the-most-valuable-skill-that-can-be-learned-in-30-minutes-or-less/feed/18valuable-skillHow To Minimize and Eliminate Emailhttps://www.lifelisted.com/blog/how-to-minimize-and-eliminate-email/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=FeedPress&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifelisted+%28Life+Listed%29
https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/how-to-minimize-and-eliminate-email/#commentsThu, 14 May 2015 06:00:15 +0000http://www.lifelisted.com/?p=3937This week’s video covers techniques for minimizing and eliminating e-mail. Email Should Never Be Your #1 Priority! Email is a never-ending task Anyone in the world with Internet access can add to your to-do list Email inboxes are not prioritized lists Add Prioritization to Chaos Use Sanebox! seriously, it is amazing! 1 “Act Now” Inbox […]

]]>https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/how-to-minimize-and-eliminate-email/feed/4minimize-email-post_imagesaneboxThe Weird World In-Betweenhttps://www.lifelisted.com/blog/the-weird-world-in-between/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=FeedPress&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifelisted+%28Life+Listed%29
https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/the-weird-world-in-between/#commentsTue, 12 May 2015 06:00:07 +0000http://www.lifelisted.com/?p=3932Between the excitement of setting a goal and the magnificent feeling of accomplishment lays the tired land of the world in-between. Greetings from the weird world in-between! I am currently consumed in routine. Every day starts with tea, chess practice and an ab workout. I then hit inbox zero, cook a quick lunch for my […]

Between the excitement of setting a goal and the magnificent feeling of accomplishment lays the tired land of the world in-between.

Greetings from the weird world in-between! I am currently consumed in routine. Every day starts with tea, chess practice and an ab workout. I then hit inbox zero, cook a quick lunch for my friends (always vegetables and a protein), walk to a cafe to do some work and then end the day with another workout, a long walk and some time with my girlfriend.

The location changes, but every day the routine is the same.

It is in this land that I most often fail. The excitement of goal setting has passed and the thrill of accomplishment has not yet been earned. This is when the real work is required. Motivation is at its lowest, temptation is growing and the work hours are long and boring. Memories of past adventures distract and people who genuinely care about you give you misguided cues and advice.

This is the hard part. The seeds of failure are in the ground but they have not yet been watered. They are waiting for the rain drops of negativity.

In the world of an adventurer, routines are sometimes regarded as poison. They are the slow death tool of the unenglighted and the antithesis of exploration and art.

While true in some ways, this perspective is really just negatively packaged with a bow.

Like any tool, the outcome of a routine is entirely reliant on the job being executed. If the job is meaningless, the routine will be meaningless too.

Routine is most valuable when used to accomplish giant, meaningful goals. Tasks that are meaningless individually can compound into something meaningful when repeated for the right reasons. Routine is how fortunes are earned and how every successful marathon runner crosses the finish line.

If, like me, you find yourself living in the weird world in-between, take a moment to pull your head out of the low visibility water of daily existence and ask yourself about your goals.

Are your monotonous daily tasks compounding into something meaningful? If so, keep going. If not, don’t get down on yourself. Simply realize your routine has spoiled and make some changes. Routine is just a tool, it needs you to lead it in the right direction.

]]>https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/the-weird-world-in-between/feed/12world-in-between-post_imageA New Monthly Life List (May 2015): Fun, Free and in Your Neighborhoodhttps://www.lifelisted.com/blog/a-new-monthly-life-list-may-2015-fun-free-and-in-your-neighborhood/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=FeedPress&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifelisted+%28Life+Listed%29
https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/a-new-monthly-life-list-may-2015-fun-free-and-in-your-neighborhood/#commentsFri, 01 May 2015 05:00:31 +0000http://www.lifelisted.com/?p=3929It is monthly life list time again! This month you will find a whole new assortment of local, free and helpful activities that you can start doing today in order to add more adventure to your life and to start making progress on your Life List. This month, challenge yourself to do one more item […]

It is monthly life list time again! This month you will find a whole new assortment of local, free and helpful activities that you can start doing today in order to add more adventure to your life and to start making progress on your Life List. This month, challenge yourself to do one more item than you did on the last list. It is a great way to build momentum!

But This Is My First Time Seeing One of These?!

If this is your first time seeing one of these monthly lists, now is your chance to try out the Life List lifestyle without having to fully commit yourself. Find a friend, set aside some time and use this mission as an excuse to go adventuring! If you get a good story out of completing any of these items, come back to this post and share your experience with the community. We want to hear from you!

Monthly Life List: May 2015

The following is a life list that is meant to be fun, free and something that you can do locally. The only guideline is you should aim to finish as many items as possible by the deadline (see below!).

Donate something you don’t use

Choose to be happy

Avoid and guard against spreading gossip

Ask a complete stranger a non-trivial question

Listen to a podcast

Go for a 5k walk

Write/draw a comic

Climb a tree

Read one of your childhood favorite books to a child

Graffiti something

The Deadline

No Life List would be complete without a deadline. This monthly Life List’s deadline is:

May 31st 2015

How Did You Do On The Last List?

Do you have any stories, suggestions or photos from working on the last monthly Life List? Share them in the comments below! The whole group wants to hear from you!

Photo was taken during a recent road trip I took through Bryce Canyon.

]]>https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/a-new-monthly-life-list-may-2015-fun-free-and-in-your-neighborhood/feed/0monthly-life-list-may-2015-image_postThe Reason I Don’t Believe In Free Willhttps://www.lifelisted.com/blog/the-reason-i-dont-believe-in-free-will/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=FeedPress&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifelisted+%28Life+Listed%29
https://www.lifelisted.com/blog/the-reason-i-dont-believe-in-free-will/#commentsTue, 28 Apr 2015 06:00:16 +0000http://www.lifelisted.com/?p=3927Warning: The following article discusses my worldview and may make some people uncomfortable. If you choose to read this, remember that I am merely stating my beliefs, I am not questioning yours. I don’t believe that free will exists. This might come as a surprise as my entire life is centered around a choice I […]

Warning: The following article discusses my worldview and may make some people uncomfortable. If you choose to read this, remember that I am merely stating my beliefs, I am not questioning yours.

I don’t believe that free will exists. This might come as a surprise as my entire life is centered around a choice I made to make the purpose of life to complete my Life List. I make decisions every day that are my own but I don’t believe they are an expression of my independently functioning will.

Allow Me to Explain

Imagine a popcorn kernel laying in a frying pan which is being heated by a lit stove. Shortly it will explode into a piece of popcorn but that action hasn’t yet occurred.

POP!

The now popped piece of popcorn flies out of the pot in a specific direction and lands on the kitchen floor.

The instant before the explosion started, a decision was made. Many factors contributed to the eventual trajectory of the not yet popped popcorn; the shape of the kernel, the source of the heat, gravity and all of the other forces which eventually would act on the flying kernel. At that point, the instant before the kernel exploded, a series of motions were started, a determined set of events were forged by circumstance.

This is a very interesting type of event. I call this a circumstantial determination.

The final destination of the popped popcorn was the result of a previously established set of circumstances. The action of the popping wasn’t a decision in that someone or something decided it, instead it was a determination in that it happened a certain way and now is just so.

Now lets look at a circumstantial determination which happens to be in the extreme.

Rewind to the beginning of our Universe. Instead of the very moment before a popcorn kernel explodes, think about the very moment before the Big Bang occurred.

I believe that the same kind of circumstantial determination was made in that instant.

The piece of popcorn sitting on the kitchen floor and the current shape and trajectory of our Universe have at least one trait in common. Their current status was circumstantially determined prior to their current state. In fact, they were determined before their current forms were even created.

That is where the similarities end. The Big Bang was fundamentally different than the popcorn kernel.

Unlike the unpopped popcorn, the Universe didn’t have any other external forces acting on it before it formed. They simply didn’t exist yet.

As such, the instant before the Big Bang was the single most important circumstantial determination to ever occur. That instant determined everything that would happen after it.

The Big Bang happened and then everything throughout history occurred as a result of it.

Fast forward to today.

Earth orbits around the Sun. Our Sun orbits around the black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

While our current solar system formation is many steps removed from that initial action of the Big Bang, the current position and makeup of our present day cosmic situation was determined the moment the Big Bang occurred. The elemental makeup and force of the Big Bang were the first series of circumstances that determined the next series of events that eventually became us.

Our situation was not decided in the traditional sense of a design. Instead, our current big picture situation was determined circumstantially.

But How Does This Relate to Living Beings?

Gases cool.

Our Sun forms.

Earth forms.

Humans form.

I form.

I have intellect and can make decisions in my life. I can choose to pursue a Life List or I can choose to do something else. I can make a conscious directional decision and ultimately I can make the necessary actions to turn left or to turn right.

Or Can I?

I make decisions based off of my genetic makeup.

I make decisions based off of prior experiences.

I make decisions based off of current inputs.

I make decisions based off of expected results.

As a human, these are the type of circumstances which uniquely determine my decisions.

For the popcorn kernel it was things like heat source and physical shape that determined its trajectory (for the sake of simplicity I will label these type of circumstances as “natural circumstances”). These forces occurred outside the kernels ability to influence them.

As humans we are impacted by the same forces (natural circumstances) but unlike the kernel, we have additional circumstances (genetics, prior experiences, sensory inputs – which I will call “human circumstances”) that impact our paths.

But Humans Are Different! We Are Conscious Beings!

Unlike the pre-exploded popcorn kernel, I have a brain and a body that enables me to react to my environment. That is fundamentally different than a moot object that has no power to change its environment.

Human circumstances are a different type of circumstance but like the natural circumstances of the kernel, these human circumstances are also outside our control and not within the immediate command of our own consciousness. (For instance, I can’t change my genetic makeup or past experiences just like the kernel can’t change its shape or the heat source of the pot)

So it appears that while these types of circumstances are different, they are still bound by the same core limitations (an inability to directly change predetermined circumstances). So then, does the fact that there are different types of circumstantial determinations really even matter?

Imagine an astroid heading on a crash course toward a distant planet. It’s current trajectory was set in motion sometime in the past. It is on a predetermined path but like the path of living beings, the astroids path through the Universe can still change. Other forces, like the gravity of nearby stars could potentially reverse the astroids current trajectory. Just because the astroid is heading toward the given planet does not mean it will absolutely make it there.

Other forces could affect it on the way which would be outside the scope of the forces that initially set it in motion. This is similar to the situation where a human chooses (based off of predetermined circumstances) to change their own path.

But even if this happens, was the initial circumstantial determination that set the astroid (or human) in motion changed?

No.

The initial determination did not change, only the outcome changed.

This was the key insight I had on how I understand fate. Just because something was predetermined doesn’t mean it can’t change.

More recent circumstantial determinations can override older circumstantial determinations. It appears that the movements of my body can change the world around me.

Does Being Conscious Disqualify Us From Being Bound To Predetermined Circumstances?

When I look backwards, I humbly think the answer is no.

Wasn’t the secondary (more recent) force that ended up changing the trajectory of the astroid also determined by previous circumstantial determinations itself? Isn’t my propensity to be attracted to brunettes determined by prior experiences and the makeup of my DNA?

Every new circumstance was determined by a prior circumstance. Even the circumstances that change.

It all goes back to the Big Bang. One circumstantial determination was made, the power, the shape, the makeup of the original burst happened and then like a pinball in an infinitely complex pinball machine, other circumstantial determinations reacted with each other. That has been the course of everything.

This is the reason I don’t believe in free will.

I can make choices but my intellect and physical form don’t enable me to change the circumstantial determinations that dictate my decisions. My decisions may be my own but like the trajectory of the popcorn kernel, they are determined by pre-existing and ever changing circumstances.

Being a conscious being does not change the fact that everything that happens now is the result of circumstantial determinations of the past. Natural circumstances and human circumstances are indeed different from the point of view of a human but they have the same limitations when considered on a galactic scale. Now that life exists, there are simply more types of circumstantial determinations but that doesn’t change the circumstances that determined everything in the beginning.

Like the popcorn and astroid, my life’s trajectory can change. That however is not free will. It is the still the circumstances of my existence that determine my conscious decisions. These circumstances are the results of a multitude of other interacting circumstances that were initially set in motion and predetermined the moment of the Big Bang. It was an instant in the past that determined the future.

POP!

Special thanks to Jack Peterson for pre-reading and arguing this with me in order to improve this. Thanks for asking the tough questions. Somehow you made a determinist out of me :-p